Giant Killer. It's a term I've been itching to use since we started our racing exploits but have never been able to justify, until now. Last weekend we raced at Silverstone in the FISCAR (Fifties Sports Car Club) and HSCC Guards Trophy race at the wonderful International Trophy race weekend. Great cars, a real racing feel, and none of the crowds. It's a proper racer and enthusiast weekend. FISCAR is intended for production sports cars and comprises an eclectic mixture of racers. In our race the grid featured HWM Jaguars, Austin Healey 100's, Alfa Romeo Guilietta Sprints, Fraser Nash Targa Floria's Triumph TR3's, MGA's, Lancia Aurelia's and a lone Porsche 356A Super! Two races meant a busy weekend, literally hoping from one event to the next, with little breathing space in between.
Because of the size and length of the circuit the FISCAR race was amalgamated with the HSCC Historic Road Sports race, so we were in with Lotus Elan's, Morgan's, 911's, and a gaggle of the ubiqitous MGB's. It also meant a big grid, with 57 cars qualifying, 22 of which were in the FISCAR race. To be honest the weekend is all a bit of a blur as I didn't do what I normally do which is go up the night before and have a leisurely start to the day, instead I got up at 4.45am, drove to Silverstone in the modern hack, and spent just the day at the circuit. The day still felt pretty relaxed as a host of friends showed up. Mav returned to crew, Philip Basil came for the day (although disappointingly not in any of his lovely cars, Philip you need to exercise your cars more
), Rainer Becker swung by (who owns a lovely Porsche 910 sadly sidelined at the moment), Sanjay (here on DDK) turned up on his Harley looking very cool, and Andy Marriot combined babysitting duties with race spectating which I think is a brilliant combination!
The car felt good as we went out for qualifying: we're getting to the stage where the admin and procedure of the race weekend is all pretty well-worn, which is a nice feeling, and the car just feels like an old pair of jeans. Fits you perfectly, and completely comfortable and known. It was pretty hard getting a clear lap though to qualify - even with letting everyone go first, there were lots of slower cars and a few incidents, so I wasn't sure where we would end up. Silverstone is a pretty fast circuit too, so having only raced once on the Dunlop L's meant I was slightly apprehensive. But we qualified in 42nd place overall, and more importantly 13th in the FISCAR grid.
Then it was straight off to the the rough and tumble of Guards. Thankfully the Sports racers were in a separate race, but even so, it's now clear having done pre-63 GT and FISCAR that the 356 is hopelessly out-classed in a pre-66 grid full of hotrods! More to the point, Porsche had obviously already recognised this with the introduction in '64 of the 911. We qualified 41st out of 45 starters, ahead of an MGB (yes!), a novice in an E-Type, and two TVR Griffiths, which were obviously just having a bad day!
A spot of lunch and then it was straight into the FISCAR race. A rolling start was made more difficult for me because of a Jaguar XK120 that qualified directly in front of me on the grid - he had more power but a novice sticker proclaimed a newcomer to racing so I knew he would be a bit tricky to pass in the first lap when I would be boxed in, and so it transpired. Two abreast through the first few corners saw some really close racing and a bit of sharp breathing in! I knew the XK120 driver would go on the brakes early for Stowe, the corner at the end of Hanger Straight, so I left my braking a tad later and snuck my nose in front. I had a right old tussle with the next three cars, an MBG driven by a complete arse who was all over the place, a Turner driven by a guy who could really race, and a Healey 100 who knew his car well. The 356 is really beginning to feel like a competitive car now, especially on tighter, third gear corners of a circuit, or where traction is important. After the hairpin I nailed the MGB and the Turner, only for the MBG to get me with a really brave (read slightly stupid move round the outside of Club as I couldn't tighten my line, which meant he was forced onto the run-off). I manage to scrabble pass the Healey 100 at Luffieild. The MGB got past me on the pit straight and then almost drives into the side of the lovely RGS Atalanta as we enter Maggotts, unsettling the RGS driver who lifts momentarily. That hesitation is enough to allow me to get my nose in front on the exit of the corner, and we race side by side at over 100mph down the Hanger Straight. Now the brakes work (!) and because I'm on the inside I leave my braking just a fraction later than him and ease in front. This means I'm carrying more speed into Stowe on a slightly tighter line than I've ever done before, but I decide to do something I've not done before this year and I don't lift. In fact I swallow hard, take a brave pill and set the car up in a proper, lovely, full-on drift and nail the accelerator - the car slingshots through like I've not experienced and I'm suddenly carrying at least another 5mph out the corner. Ah, so this is racing an old car on Dunlop's properly! I manage to overtake the MGB again, then out-brake a lovely Alfa down to Abbey. Two more laps and I manage to extend the distance and make all the overtaking stick.
A lightening pitstop gets me out and Ian in quickly: we had had a frank discussion about etiquette and decorum over lunch about Mav and I rummaging about in Ian's crotch looking for belts, and agree that a quick pit stop is worth any slight embarrassment that comes with inadvertently getting close and personal with his tackle. Anyway with a full face helmet and gloves on you can't put belts on quickly so Mav and I do it and it works out a whole lot quicker. Philip diligently checks brake and tyres while all this is happening, getting us some really useful data on temperatures. Mav then applies his usual professionalism by cooly holding Ian on the stopwatch and counting down the remain seconds on his hand (fixed pitstop of 45 seconds in this race) before letting Ian loose.
Ian has a great old race although by the second half the grid had spread over the length of the circuit so the racing wasn't as close. Long circuits like Silverstone are great as there are more corners, but suffer because it takes more cars to occupy the circuit length, whereas the shorter ones mean you're constantly dicing with other cars, although this is over less corners. Anyway it's fascinating to watch the in-car footage from the Go-Pro - Ian and I have such different styles but lap within two or three tenths of each other, and it's obvious we can learn more from each other. His gear changes are lightening quick compared to mine and he uses a taller gear in places which carries more speed on the longer corners, whereas I'm going later on the brakes and earlier on the gas out of corners. If we can both do what the other has mastered we'll both be quicker!
So we knew we had done well: we had passed a stack of cars, saw a few expire, and had no-one passed us other than the race leaders… And we finished 8th overall in the FISCAR race out of 22 starters, and took fastest lap in our class! It was tremendously satisfying to beat cars with larger engines and great to see that having got the 60mm GT drums sorted we have real stopping power now compared with period competitors.
Guards was a completely different story. A misfire on the second lap meant the car was completely outclassed and I pulled in after a few laps worried it might be serious. Turns out it's likely to have been a duff plug as all the main engine components are fine. I have to say that FISCAR is a wonderful race series: great cars, lovely people, a tremendous grid of period cars, and close racing. Check out the series here
http://fiscar.org/silverstone-arena-may-17th/
FISCAR also run a team championship so I'm itching to form a Porsche one: it also means we would have a few other 356's to race against which would be fabulous. PM me if you're interested…. If you have any desire to race then don't hesitate - racing is the best thing you can do with your clothes on (and given it's endurance racing it typically lasts longer than the pastime you can partake in without clothes!)
Unfortunately I took no photos, but Andy took a few, this one of his lad watching the best car on the grid
and getting him started early!
And this one is front and centre of the FISCAR race report!
Until next time, when we're racing at Donington in the next FISCAR race 8 June. May be a top five finish? We can but dream….
